Podcast appearances and mentions of ari peskoe

When Kurt Borchardt opened his latest electricity bill, he thought there was a mistake.当库尔特·博查特（音译）收到最新一期电费账单时，他简直不敢相信自己的眼睛。"Our electric bill doubled in one month. Almost a $3,000-$4,000 jump on a single bill," wrote Borchardt, co-owner of Artisanal Brew Works in Saratoga Springs, New York, describing the shock on social media."我们一个月的电费翻了一番。单张账单就涨了近三四千美元，"纽约萨拉托加斯普林斯市Artisanal Brew Works啤酒厂合伙人博查特（音译）在社交媒体上描述了当时的震惊。The brewery had already endured a slow winter season, traditionally its weakest period. Then came what he said was a 133-percent increase in electricity prices. The company's National Grid bill has now become its second-largest expense after rent, squeezing margins at a time when customer traffic remains slow.该啤酒厂刚熬过传统上最惨淡的冬季淡季。紧接着就遭遇了133%的电价涨幅。如今，国家电网公司的账单已成为该厂仅次于房租的第二大开支，在客流量持续低迷之际进一步挤压利润空间。"When I saw that bill, I fell out of my chair," Borchardt told local television station WTEN. His frustration reflects a broader national trend."看到账单时，我惊得从椅子上站了起来，"博查特对当地电视台WTEN表示。他的无奈折射出美国正面临的全国性趋势。Electricity prices in the United States are emerging as a new source of economic strain, raising concerns about inflation, industrial competitiveness and political risk, particularly after a colder-than-average winter drove up heating demand and tightened natural gas markets.美国电价正成为新的经济压力源，引发对通胀、工业竞争力和政治风险的担忧——特别是在遭遇比往年更冷的冬季，取暖需求上升而天然气市场供应趋紧之后。The most recent US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index report showed that overall inflation rose 2.4 percent in the past 12 months ending in January while electricity prices increased 6.3 percent. Though gasoline prices have fluctuated, electricity bills have continued to climb steadily, placing sustained pressure on both households and businesses.美国劳工统计局最新消费者价格指数报告显示，过去12个月（截至1月）整体通胀上涨2.4%，而电价涨幅达6.3%。尽管汽油价格有所波动，电价却持续攀升，给家庭和企业带来持续压力。One key factor behind the rise in electricity prices is surging power demand from data centers and artificial intelligence applications. As the US accelerates investment in AI infrastructure, electricity consumption from large-scale computing facilities has expanded rapidly, placing additional strain on an already aging power grid.电价上涨的关键推手之一是数据中心和人工智能应用的电力需求激增。随着美国加速AI基础设施投资，大型计算设施的耗电量快速扩张，给本已老化的电网带来额外负担。"Since electricity is a very inelastic good, these price increases will continue to put upward pressure on inflation," Aaron Pacitti, an economics professor at Siena University, told China Daily. "One of the main drivers of this increase is the rise in electricity demand from data centers and increased usage of AI.""由于电力属于极度缺乏弹性的商品，这些涨价将持续推高通胀，"锡耶纳大学经济学教授亚伦·帕西蒂（音译）向《中国日报》表示，"主要驱动因素之一就是数据中心用电需求增长和AI使用量增加。"According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, data centers accounted for about 4.4 percent of total US electricity consumption in 2023. Depending on the pace of broader economic growth, that share is projected to rise to between 6.7 percent and 12 percent by 2028.据劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室数据，2023年数据中心约占美国总用电量的4.4%。根据整体经济增长速度，预计到2028年这一比例将升至6.7%至12%。Similar challenges are emerging in other major technology markets as governments seek to balance the rapid growth of artificial intelligence with the need for a reliable power supply.随着各国政府寻求在AI快速发展与可靠电力供应之间取得平衡，其他主要科技市场也面临类似挑战。In the United States, the surge in electricity demand is already beginning to show up in capacity markets.在美国，电力需求激增已开始在容量市场中显现。PJM's latest capacity auction for the 2027-28 delivery year fell 6,623 megawatts short of its reliability requirement, underscoring a growing imbalance between electricity supply and demand, according to a Dec 17 news release from the grid operator, which serves 13 states and the District of Columbia.根据为13个州及哥伦比亚特区服务的电网运营商PJM去年12月17日发布的新闻稿，其最近一次2027-2028交付年度的容量拍卖较可靠性要求缺口达662.3万千瓦，凸显电力供需失衡加剧。Capacity auctions are forward-looking markets in which grid operators secure commitments from power plants to ensure sufficient supply during future peak demand periods.容量拍卖是电网运营商确保未来高峰用电期供应的前瞻性市场。"But this auction leaves no doubt that data centers' demand for electricity continues to far outstrip new supply, and the solution will require concerted action involving PJM, its stakeholders, state and federal partners, and the data center industry itself," said Stu Bresler, executive vice-president of market services and strategy at PJM."但此次拍卖明确表明，数据中心的电力需求仍远超新增供应，解决方案需要PJM、利益相关方、州和联邦合作伙伴以及数据中心行业本身采取协同行动，"PJM市场服务与战略执行副总裁斯图·布莱斯勒（音译）表示。Economists warn that persistently higher utility costs could weigh on overall economic momentum.经济学家警告，持续高企的公用事业成本可能拖累整体经济动能。Production costs生产成本For manufacturers, especially in energy-intensive sectors, higher electricity prices translate directly into rising production costs.对制造商而言，尤其是在能源密集型行业，电价上涨直接转化为生产成本上升。"Higher energy costs will act as a drag on growth and competitiveness for US firms and heighten the affordability issues facing US households," Pacitti said. "Since demand from data centers and AI is unlikely to subside anytime soon, these price increases will act as a modest headwind to growth.""能源成本上升将拖累美国企业的增长和竞争力，加剧美国家庭的支付难题，"帕西蒂说，"由于数据中心和AI需求短期内不太可能减弱，这些涨价将成为增长的轻微阻力。"Beyond demand growth, structural challenges are also contributing to the problem. In many parts of the country, utility companies purchase electricity through wholesale markets, and when demand rises faster than supply, prices increase for all consumers, according to Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School.哈佛大学法学院电力法律倡议主任阿里·佩斯科认为，除了需求增长，结构性挑战也在加剧问题。美国许多地区的公用事业公司通过批发市场购电，当需求增长快于供应时，所有消费者的电价都会上涨。economic strain /ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪk ˈstreɪn/经济压力fluctuate /ˈflʌktʃueɪt/波动inelastic good /ˌɪnɪˈlæstɪk ˈɡʊd/缺乏弹性的商品capacity markets /kəˈpæsəti ˌmɑːkɪts/容量市场capacity auction /kəˈpæsəti ˌɔːkʃən/容量拍卖utility costs /juːˈtɪləti ˈkɒsts/公用事业成本

As officials in Missouri and St. Louis try to attract data center proposals, advocates and academics are raising the alarm about the effects such centers may have on utilities. Energy policy expert Ari Peskoe shares how the data center boom is changing the utility landscape, why everyday consumers may be left footing the bill for big tech's use of electricity, and what regulators and lawmakers can do to protect the public.

As large data centers move into the St. Louis region, they will require huge amounts of electricity. Experts say this dynamic is fundamentally changing the electric utility landscape in the U.S. STLPR's Kate Grumke speaks with Harvard Law School's Ari Peskoe about it.

Electricity bills are climbing nationwide, rising faster than inflation in many places. The explosive growth of AI and the massive data centers behind it are driving demand and straining the grid. To explain how this hits consumers, and what can be done, Geoff Bennett spoke with Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

In this week's episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Ben Hertz-Shargel, global head of a research team at Wood Mackenzie that investigates the connections between energy consumers and the electric grid, about how the increasing energy demand from artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping electricity markets in the United States. In a recent report for Wood Mackenzie, Hertz-Shargel investigates large-load tariffs—a new utility rate plan for large customers, like data centers, whose exceptionally high electricity demand necessitates constructing additional infrastructure. Hertz-Shargel outlines ongoing uncertainty around whether the existing electricity market can accommodate data centers, along with potential avenues for data centers to promote clean energy development and protect individual energy consumers and households from undue electricity price increases. References and recommendations: “Large load tariffs: a looming challenge for utilities” by Ben Hertz-Shargel; https://www.woodmac.com/news/opinion/large-load-tariffs-a-looming-challenge-for-utilities/ “Large load tariffs have a problem. Clean transition tariffs are the solution.” by Ben Hertz-Shargel; https://www.utilitydive.com/news/large-load-clean-transition-tariffs-wood-mackenzie/749722/ “Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers Are Paying for Big Tech's Power” by Ari Peskoe and Eliza Martin; https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/extracting-profits-from-the-public-how-utility-ratepayers-are-paying-for-big-techs-power/

In this episode, EELP founding director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Carrie Jenks, EELP's executive director and Ari Peskoe, director of EELP's Electricity Law Initiative. They discuss President Trump's most recent executive orders on climate, energy, and the environment and what they are watching for as agencies begin to implement the administration's directives to roll back environmental regulations; challenge state energy and climate policies, and revitalize the coal industry. Transcript available here: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CleanLaw_EP102-Transcript.pdf

In this episode, Harvard Law's Eliza Martin and Ari Peskoe join me to unpack how data centers' skyrocketing electricity demand could leave ordinary customers subsidizing Big Tech's power bills. Most chilling is the potential alliance between utilities and tech giants that threatens to derail much-needed utility reforms while entrenching fossil-fueled infrastructure. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe

Meta is planning to build a $10 billion data center in Louisiana...but a new report says that power for those data centers could come at ‘staggering' cost to consumers. We talk with Ari Peskoe from Harvard's Electricity Law Initiative about what his research found.

* Should we be worried about the stock market and economy? What are the chances of a recession? * Meta is planning to build a $10 billion data center in Louisiana...but a new report says that power for those data centers could come at ‘staggering' cost to consumers. We talk with Ari Peskoe from Harvard's Electricity Law Initiative about what his research found.

Ari Peskoe describes himself as an electric utility critic and has advice for electric utility enthusiasts.Ari Peskoe is the Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program and a prolific writer about regulation of the U.S. power sector on issues ranging from constitutional challenges to states' energy laws to interstate transmission development. The interview is wrapped in commentary from co-hosts Paul Dockery, Ahlmahz Negash, and Farhad Billimoria.You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Share with friends that are energy enthusiasts, like us!03:11 - 30 seconds of theoryFarhad on Cost of Service vs Incentive based regulationJoskow, P.L., 2024. The Expansion of Incentive (Performance-Based) Regulation of Electricity Distribution and Transmission in the United States. Review of Industrial Organization, pp.1-49.Ahlmahz on Procedural JusticeJenkins, K., McCauley, D., Heffron, R., Stephan, H. and Rehner, R., 2016. Energy justice: A conceptual review. Energy research & social science, 11, pp.174-182.11:01 - Ari Peskoe on Governance11/01/2023 - CleanLaw Podcast - Electricity Law InitiativeCleanLaw–Replacing the Utility Transmission Syndicate's Control, Hannah Dobie interviews Ari Peskoe about his new article in Energy Law JournalPeskoe, A., 2023. Replacing the Utility Transmission Syndicate's Control. Energy LJ, 44, p.447.Market Configuration Matters; Effects of Market Choices on Consumers in the Northwest US51:10 - Ranking Governance, Configuration, and Market Design59:37 - Ari Peskoe's Energy System Analogy1:04:48 - Debriefing on transmission, governance, and public power with Ahlmahz Negash and Farhad BillimoriaPublic Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it's work to watch!

Ari Peskoe, director of our Electricity Law Initiative, speaks with Claire Wayner, senior associate at RMI's Carbon-Free Electricity program, and Casey Baker senior program manager at GridLab. They discuss how the utility industry thinks about building new high-voltage transmission lines and how FERC Order No. 1920 attempts to push the industry to develop more transmission to accommodate new, clean sources of electricity while maintaining a reliable and affordable power system. Transcript (pdf): http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw_EP94.pdf

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a new rule to better coordinate the massive buildout of new electric transmission systems. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg interviews Ari Peskoe who is the director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program.FERC is trying to help pave the way to get a reported 11,000 wind, solar, and battery projects online. Right now, they are in limbo because of the lack of transmission.“There are massive amounts of generation, mostly clean generation, stuck in these interconnection lines or interconnection queues,” said Peskoe.In May, FERC issued Order No. 1920 to coordinate information sharing and transmission buildout. “FERC is trying to motivate the industry to develop high-voltage transmission lines and to work together on that development through existing regional alliances.”Peskoe says there have been tens of billions of dollars a year spent on transmission, but much of it has gone to rebuilding last century's infrastructure.“We need to keep the system working, but we also need to think about ways to expand it in a cost-effective way.” Order No. 1920 urges the industry to be more forward thinking rather than reacting to these generators on a project-by-project basis.“Let's look at the broader trends, the long-term trends that we're seeing, both in the supply mix changes as well as the potential for increasing demand due to electrification and other factors and plan wholistically going forward to anticipate the future needs.” Ari Peskoe has written extensively about regulation of the U.S. power sector, on issues ranging from Constitutional challenges to states' energy laws to interstate transmission development. Prior to the Environmental and Energy Law Program, Ari was an associate at a law firm in Washington, D.C. where he litigated before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about the Western Energy Crisis. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in electrical engineering and business.

As another very hot summer approaches, a surge in demand for air conditioning is inevitable. But the nation's electrical grid is aging and overtaxed in some areas. There were major failures last year in Texas. Meanwhile, solar and wind projects want access to new customers while oil and gas interests would prefer that this not happen so fast. The established utilities want to keep their monopolies after all. How can regulators, businesses and government leaders navigate this minefield successfully to benefit the American people? Ari Peskoe, the director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School's Environment and Energy Law Program, has some ideas for what could help reinforce the country's electrical infrastructure. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Three decades ago, FERC recommended implementing independent entities to manage regional power markets and system planning.The resulting seven RTOs and ISOs have largely been successful. But now experts believe they've become part of the problem, exacerbating the country's woefully inadequate supply of transmission, allegedly by pandering to utility interests.Episode 72 of the Factor This! podcast features Ari Peskoe, an expert on transmission policy and the director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard.Peskoe shares his recent research on how regional grid operators have failed to evolve with the advent of clean energy technology, and why a reboot could be the key to realizing an electrified future. Watch the episode on YouTubeRegister for the GridTECH Connect Forum - Southeast event taking place in Orlando on Feb. 26 using promo code "PODCAST" to receive 10%. Take advantage of this unique opportunity for developers, utilities, and regulators to collaborate on the critical issue of interconnection. All GridTECH Connect attendees also receive complimentary access to DISTRIBUTECH International.

Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School's Electricity Law Initiative, discusses FERC's pending reforms to the electric transmission development process in the U.S., and legal challenges they'll likely face. Description Nearly two years ago, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposed a set of regulatory reforms to speed a much-needed expansion of the nation's network of long distance electric transmission lines. FERC's final rules, which are likely to arrive this year, are expected to substantially update the framework under which transmission lines are planned and paid for, and pave the way for the growth of clean energy. Yet FERC's reforms come at a time when the future of the electric grid has become the focus of fierce partisan debate, and legal challenges to FERC's proposed rules are expected. Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School's Electricity Law Initiative, explores the need for a rapid expansion of the nation's transmission infrastructure, and why the industry's existing framework for transmission development has not been able to deliver the necessary pace of development. He discusses FERC's proposed rules to govern transmission planning and the sharing of transmission costs, and how a final order might endure expected legal challenges. Ari Peskoe is director of Harvard Law School's Electricity Law Initiative. Related Content Aligning Clean Energy Policy with Grid Reliability (podcast) https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/podcast/aligning-clean-energy-policy-with-grid-reliability/ Wholesale Electricity Justice https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/wholesale-electricity-justice/  America's Electric Power Transmission Crisis (podcast) https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/podcast/americas-electric-power-transmission-crisis/   Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.eduSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ari Peskoe, director of our Electricity Law Initiative, speaks with Staff Attorney Hannah Dobie about Ari's new article about power sector governance, Replacing the Utility Transmission Syndicate's Control. They discuss how FERC's legal authority shapes regional governance, how independent decisionmaking by Regional Transmission Organizations is compromised by utilities and other incumbent firms, and why this is holding back the industry's innovative potential.  Transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-90-transcript-RTO.pdf Ari's paper is here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2023/11/replacing-the-utility-transmission-syndicates-control/ Show notes with graphic mentioned at 23:15 https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2023/11/cleanlaw-replacing-the-utility-transmission-syndicates-control-hannah-dobie-interviews-ari-peskoe-about-his-new-article-in-energy-law-journal/

Executive Director Carrie Jenks and EELP's Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe discuss the Supreme Court's recent National Pork Producers Council v. Ross decision. Ari explains how this case about a California law regulating sales of pork products will help insulate state clean energy laws from certain types of legal challenges. Mentioned links: https://statepowerproject.org/ Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-84.pdf

Director of our Electricity Law Initiative Ari Peskoe spoke with Staff Attorney Hannah Oakes about electric transmission regulation and how it has disincentivized regional transmission build out. They discuss Ari's work in recent FERC transmission proceedings, and how Congress, states, and utilities can help catalyze transmission development to enable the clean energy transition. Links they discuss include: The Electricity Law Initiative's Comment on FERC's proposed rule on long-term regional transmission planning responds to FERC's proposal to reinstate rights of first refusal and discusses the benefits of retaining competitive transmission development. Comment is here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Harvard-ELI-RM21-17-NOPR-Comment.pdf FERC rule is here https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filedownload?fileid=2fae9f65-2968-cdf2-94ba-804ef7300000 ELI's comments on FERC oversight of transmission rates proposes new oversight mechanisms, including an independent transmission monitor, designed to protect consumers from inefficient transmission investments. Link is here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/AD22-8-AriPeskoe-PreTechConStatement.pdf At around 30 minutes, Ari mistakenly says that Congress' 2021 infrastructure law provides $5 billion for resilience and reliability investments. The law actually provides more than $10 billion for such investments. Here's the link to at transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hannah-and-Ari-transcript.pdf

At Harvard Law School's Electricity Law Initiative, Ari Peskoe works to promote market entry for clean energy, parsing through an arcane world of obsolete federal and state laws, most of which is up to a century old and even older and was not written with our current electricity needs in mind. Peskoe says he prefers the competitive market model to the monopoly utility approach to regulating electricity because it poses greater opportunities for the kind of innovation we need to decarbonize our electricity system in response to the ongoing climate crisis. It is in this vein that he worries that FERC's proposal to allow utilities the first right to build necessary power grid expansion projects might lead to gold-plating the grid, rather than the least-cost solutions for electricity consumers. Nevertheless, he is optimistic that FERC's transmission NOPR can bring state and federal regulators together to work collaboratively to build out necessary power grid architecture. He is quite critical of merchant generators in New England, whom he accuses of acting anti-competitively by working to block a Massachusetts initiative to bring state-subsidized clean Canadian hydropower into the regional wholesale power market. "What these generators want is essentially a market just for merchant generators," Peskoe says. Support the show

Ben Serrurier, Jason Fordney, Arin Guillory, and Paul Dockery talk about the latest in public power, public-power-adjacent news and exciting acronyms, including BPA in the EIM, CREPC-WIRAB, all-things Tx, NuScale IPO, and another WSJ article!04:07 - a new merch idea coming from the FDR speech Ben quotes in the cold open08:19 - Arin Reports14:21 - BPA joined the EIM on May 3rd BPA press release CAISO press release 20:28 - Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation // Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body (CREPC-WIRAB) Ben's live tweet of the event CREPC WIRAB agenda Jason Fordney's article 34:53 - Ari Peskoe's Utility Dive guest article Jim DiPeso's coverage of FERC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Keegan Moyer's (Energy Strategies, Partner) presentation on Transmission Planning from CREPC-WIRAB 43:13 - NuScale starts trading on the NYSE Coverage from The Oregonian (link from Joel Myer's Energy News Digest, thanks Joel) Stock tracking 49:19 - WSJ's Katherine Blunt covers Electricity Shortage Warnings the February article by Katerine Blunt on the “increasingly unreliable” power grid Bloomberg's coverage of California state officials warning Dan Catchpole's coverage of PNUCC's Northwest Regional Forecast (NRF) The EI/GridLab/Telos report on CA 2030 1:02:31 - TL;DR the rest of the news in “Energy West, lite” Rick Adair K.C. Mehaffey K.C. Mehaffey Linda Dailey Paulson Jim DiPeso “News Roundup” You can find our merch on shopify. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you're valued and appreciated.

A recent decision by energy regulator ISO-New England has the potential to set back clean energy's participation in the market by two years, according to Ari Peskoe, Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program. In response to the decision to extend the minimum price offer rule, climate activists organized at the 'Fix the Grid' Rally in Boston Common. Alaina Mencinger has more.

On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by her colleague John Farrell, director of ILSR's Energy Democracy Initiative, and guest Ari Peskoe, who is the director of the Energy Law Initiative at Harvard Law School. They discuss the attempts Congress has made to increase competition in electric utilities, the four orders the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruled between 1996 and 2011, and the how the lack of competitive processes negatively impacts consumers. Highlights include: The reasons why Congress passed the Public Utility Act and its impacts on the concentration of economic and political power. The FERC recognizing that the single greatest impediment to competition is Investor Owned Utilities. How the conviction “bigger is better” impacted the electric utility sector for nearly a hundred years. Whether Peskoe's recommendations to the FERC; independent planning, information transparency, and burden of proof on the utility to show that costs are reasonable will be considered moving forward. “I worry about innovation in this space. It is a hallmark of the capitalist system that competition brings innovation. When we have an industry like the transmission sector here that is dominated by the century old incumbents who for decades have been planning among themselves without any competitive pressure I wonder if that is a system that can yield the benefits that I think we get from innovation.” – Ari Peskoe “The transmission system is so novel in a way of being so balkanized and so controlled by the incumbents.” – John Farrell Related Resources Transcript Jess Del Fiacco: Hello, and welcome to Building Local Power, a podcast dedicated to thought provoking conversations about how we can challenge corporate monopolies and expand the power of people to shape their own future. I'm Jess Del Fiacco, the host of Building Local Power and communications manager here at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. For more than 45 years, ILSR has worked to build driving equitable communities where power, wealth, and accountability are made in local hands. Jess Del Fiacco: Welcome to today's episode. I'm actually going to hand over hosting duties to ILSR's John Farrell today. John is a co-director of ILSR and he directs our energy democracy work. John is joined by his guest, Ari Peskoe, who is the Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School. They're going to talk about how utilities have gained outside market power by owning energy infrastructure and how federal regulators could reintroduce competition through targeted regulation. With that, I'm going to hand things over to John. John Farrell: If you've heard of transmission lines in the context of clean energy, it's probably a complaint about not in my backyard, or NIMBY, opposition to the large steel towers and wires that carry electricity long distances. However, utilities themselves have as much to do with the barriers to expanding the electricity grid. Like with rooftop solar, the exercise of monopoly power has much to do with the problem. Ari Peskoe is the Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program, and author of a new paper, Is the Utility Transmission Syndicate Forever? John Farrell: He joined me in December, 2021 to talk about the battle to overcome monopoly, utility opposition, to making transmission line planning and construction more competitive and more cost effective. I'm John Farrell, Director of the Energy Democracy Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Ari, thank you so much for joining me on Building Local Power. Ari Peskoe: Thanks for having me. John Farrell: I feel like this is a really timely conversation with the passage of the federal infrastructure bill, which does include money for high voltage electricity transmission lines. There might be other ordinary folks who would be curious since John O...

On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, Jess Del Fiacco is joined by John Farrell and guest Ari Peskoe who is the director of the energy law initiative at Harvard Law School. They discuss the acts that Congress has passed to increase (but hasn't) competition in electric utilities, the four orders the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruled between 1996 and 2011, and the cost utility's evading competitive processes has on consumers. … Read More

For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell and guest Ari Peskoe discuss how utilities have gained outsized market power by owning transmission infrastructure and how federal regulators could reintroduce competition through targeted regulation.… Read More

For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell and guest Ari Peskoe discuss how utilities have gained outsized market power by owning transmission infrastructure and how federal regulators could reintroduce competition through targeted regulation.… Read More

Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe speaks with Brandon Smithwood, Senior Director of Policy at Dimension Renewable Energy. They talk about business models for development of small-scale renewable energy and storage systems. Please see here for a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-59-Ari-and-Brandon-Smithwood-on-Distributed-Energy-Business-Models.pdf

Ari Peskoe, speaks with Scott Hempling, adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center about Scott’s new book, Regulating Mergers and Acquisitions of the U.S. Electric Utilities: Industry Concentration and Corporate Complication. Scott has also written about FERC’s review of utility merger applications in a 2018 Energy Law Journal Article entitled Inconsistent with the Public Interest: FERC’s Three Decades of Deference to Electricity Consolidation. Note: we recorded this episode in early November, 2020. See here for a full transcript of this episode. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-54-Ari-and-Scott-Hempling-on-Electric-Utility-Mergers.pdf

In this episode, our Electricity Law Initiative director Ari Peskoe speaks with Matto Mildenberger, assistant professor of political science at the UC Santa Barbara, about the politics of carbon pricing. Note - we recorded this episode in late October, prior to the presidential election. This is a link to the article they discuss http://bostonreview.net/science-nature-politics/matto-mildenberger-leah-c-stokes-trouble-carbon-pricing You can find a full transcript of this episode here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-52-Ari-and-Matto-on-Carbon-Pricing.pdf

Ari Peskoe, Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program, discusses moving to a clean energy system, FERC’s Order 841 and the history of electricity regulation.

In this episode Ari Peskoe speaks with Leah Stokes, Professor of Political Science at UC Santa Barbara about state clean energy policies. Transcript here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-43-Ari-and-Leah-Stokes-on-Interest-Groups-and-Utilities.pdf https://www.leahstokes.com/ https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/

For a transcript of this episode see here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-of-Ari-Pesko-on-FERC-filing-6-10-20.pdf In this episode, Ari Peskoe, Director of our Electricity Law Initiative, describes a petition filed at FERC by a group calling itself the New England Ratepayers Association requesting that FERC find state-regulated net metering arrangements violate federal law and are therefore invalid. If FERC were to grant NERA’s petition, utilities across the country would likely press state regulators to change the rules that have facilitated recent dramatic growth in rooftop solar. We made this recording at a press event on June 10th, and these were Ari’s opening remarks. Read more, including our comment to FERC here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/06/electricity-law-initiative-files-comment-in-opposition-to-net-metering-petition/

For a full transcript of this episode click here. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Ari-and-Joe-FERC-Transcript-Final.pdf In this episode our executive director Joe Goffman interviews Electricity Law Initiative director Ari Peskoe about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's December, 2019 order on PJM’s capacity auction. You can see Ari's recent op-ed on this rule and a Twitter thread about Requests for Rehearing of FERC’s December 19 order at the following links https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/01/fercs-clean-energy-boycott-distorts-pjm-prices-and-discards-history/ and https://twitter.com/AriPeskoe/status/1220390750686412803

For a full transcript of this episode click here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Ari-and-Jason-Burwen-Transcript-Final.pdf Ari Peskoe talks with Jason Burwen, vice president for policy at the US Energy Storage Association. They discuss new electricity market rules that aim to pay storage resources for the value they provide to our energy system. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/01/cleanlaw-ari-peskoe-with-jason-burwen-on-electricity-markets-and-storage/

This Thursday’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features Harvard Law School’s Ari Peskoe talking with David Spence about his research on “Reliability, Decarbonization & Federal-State Conflict Over Electricity Markets.” Ari and David talk about restructured power markets and struggles over the extent of federal and state authority to ensure that there are enough power plants and that electricity remains reliable. And Ari explains his work on a

In statutes such as the Federal Power Act and Clean Water Act, Congress divided responsibility for oversight of energy generation and transmission projects between federal agencies and the States. In recent years, several States have more aggressively used their perceived statutory and regulatory authority in furtherance of climate change goals, prompting litigation from affected parties and regulatory pushback from the Trump Administration. Our experts will discuss the most recent legal and regulatory skirmishes over the balancing of federal and state jurisdiction over energy policy, including: Judicial rejection of extended consideration of Section 401 certification requests; EPA proposed Clean Water Act regulations; State subsidies for power generation plants and renewable power mandates; and, State-issued rights of first refusal to incumbent utilities to build transmission lines.Featuring:- Gordon A. Coffee, Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP- Prof. Ari Peskoe, Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law SchoolVisit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

In statutes such as the Federal Power Act and Clean Water Act, Congress divided responsibility for oversight of energy generation and transmission projects between federal agencies and the States. In recent years, several States have more aggressively used their perceived statutory and regulatory authority in furtherance of climate change goals, prompting litigation from affected parties and regulatory pushback from the Trump Administration. Our experts will discuss the most recent legal and regulatory skirmishes over the balancing of federal and state jurisdiction over energy policy, including: Judicial rejection of extended consideration of Section 401 certification requests; EPA proposed Clean Water Act regulations; State subsidies for power generation plants and renewable power mandates; and, State-issued rights of first refusal to incumbent utilities to build transmission lines.Featuring:- Gordon A. Coffee, Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP- Prof. Ari Peskoe, Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law SchoolVisit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.

Ari Peskoe talks to Matt Christiansen, legal advisor to FERC Commissioner Richard Glick, about the Federal Power Act and Matt’s recent article co-authored with Commissioner Glick about FERC and climate change. Ari and Matt discuss recent federal court decisions about Zero Emission Credits (ZECs) and what they mean for the future of state electricity policies. Then, Matt outlines his article and explains how FERC’s authority over interstate power markets and natural gas infrastructure siting relates to greenhouse gas reduction efforts. “FERC and Climate Change” is available on the Energy Law Journal’s website https://www.eba-net.org/assets/1/6/%5bGlick_and_Christiansen%5d%5bFinal%5d.pdf Visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-22-Ari-Christiansen-FERC.pdf

Ari Peskoe talks to Dr. Jacob Mays about capacity markets. Jacob explains why regional power markets adopted capacity markets and outlines his research on the connection between risk and power plant operating and capital costs. Jacob and his colleagues published a paper on this topic entitled Asymmetric Risk and Fuel Neutrality in Capacity Markets - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3330932 Visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-19-Ari-Jacob-Capacity-Markets.pdf

Ari Peskoe talks with Bill Hogan, Professor of Global Energy Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. After laying out fundamental principles of wholesale market design, Bill discusses the recent proposal filed by PJM about reforming price formation in its reserve market. Bill explains why the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should find that prices in the market are currently unjust and unreasonable and how the proposed market redesign will result in a more efficient market. Bill and his colleague Susan Pope wrote a paper in support of PJM’s proposal - https://sites.hks.harvard.edu/fs/whogan/Hogan_Pope_PJM_Report_032119.pdf. Visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-18-Ari-Hogan-PJM.pdf

Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe interviews Jesse Jenkins, a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Ari and Jesse discuss fundamental principles of electricity market design and whether these principles will continue to apply to a low-carbon grid with high levels of wind and solar. Visit our website at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-8-Ari-Jesse-Jenkins-Renewables-and-Electricy-Mkts.pdf

Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe interviews Phil Sharp - former Indiana Representative and chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, director of the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, and President of Resources for the Future. Ari and Phil discuss the history of PURPA and its implications for climate change legislation. Thank you to the Harvard University Center for the Environment for helping with this podcast. Visit our website at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-7-Ari-Phil-Sharp-PURPA-40th.pdf

Our staff attorney Hana Vizcarra speaks with Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe about FERC natural gas facility permitting. In July, 2018 ELI filed comments with FERC arguing that accounting for the economic risks and environmental harms of greenhouse gas emissions in a permitting proceeding is consistent with judicial precedent and Commission practice. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Harvard-Electricity-Law-Initiative-Policy-Statement-0725.pdf Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-5-Hana-Ari-FERC-gas-comments.pdf

Elon Musk announced Monday that Tesla is laying off 9 percent of salaried employees at the company. This is not the first round of sweeping layoffs at Tesla — the most recent came after the SolarCity acquisition. But this appears to be the biggest so far.We'll discuss Elon's new quest for profitability.Then, we'll cover the never-ending saga in Washington over saving coal plants. The Trump Administration is now trying to invoke national security to prop up closing coal and nuke plants – and the nation’s top energy regulators are giving it the cold shoulder.Finally, The Energy Gang is celebrating its fifth anniversary this week. To mark the occasion, we'll each pick a single moment from the last five years caused an unstoppable ripple in the world of energy.This podcast is brought to you by Sense. Sense installs in your home's electrical panel and provides insight into your energy use and home activity through iOS, Android and web apps. Find out more.Recommended reading/listening:GTM: Tesla to Cut Workforce by 9%; Musk Says It Won’t Affect Model 3 ProductionBloomberg: Musk’s Model 3 Miscalculation Culminates in Major Tesla Job CutsHarvard Law podcast with Ari Peskoe on DOE's coal bailoutBloomberg: Trump Prepares Lifeline for Money-Losing Coal PlantsSubscribe to The Energy Gang podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.And while you're there, subscribe to our other podcasts, The Interchange and Political Climate.

Harvard Law School's Environmental & Energy Law Program Executive Director Joe Goffman interviews Electricity Initiative Director Ari Peskoe about the DOE memo leaked in May, 2018. The memo discusses a "Strategic Electric Generation Reserve" and tactics to support uneconomic coal and nuclear plants. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-2-Joe-Ari-leaked-DOE-memo.pdf

Owners of rooftop solar could soon begin selling power into wholesale electricity markets, the traditional domain of big coal, gas and nuclear generators. The catch: electricity markets need to get fully behind the switch. --- America’s electricity system is undergoing dramatic change, in particular as distributed energy resources – notably rooftop solar and battery storage – become more common. Taken in aggregate, total rooftop solar and electricity storage now equals the generation potential of several traditional power plants. As these resources grow more popular, their potential to impact the larger electricity system also grows. Accordingly, some in the electricity industry have recognized the potential for distributed energy to participate in the same competitive, wholesale electricity markets that have been the domain of large nuclear, gas and coal generators. Ari Peskoe, Senior Fellow in Electricity Law at the Harvard Law School Environmental Law Policy Program Initiative, weighs in on the growth opportunity that wholesale markets can provide to distributed electricity, and at the policy and economic challenges that remain to their participation in these markets. Ari Peskoe is a Visiting Scholar at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and Senior Fellow in Electricity Law at the Harvard Law School Environmental Law Policy Program Initiative. Earlier, as an energy attorney, he litigated cases before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Related Content: So What Are Utilities Doing About Storage? http://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2017/10/27/so-what-are-utilities-doing-about-storage A Looming Bust for U.S. Solar Industry? http://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2017/09/25/looming-bust-us-solar-industry Examining the Role of Early-Stage Venture Capital Investment in Industry http://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/blog/2017/09/08/examining-role-early-stage-venture-capital-investment-energy Rate Decoupling and Economic and Design Considerations http://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/paper/rate-decoupling-and-economic-and-design-considerations

Thought that controversial grid resiliency report ordered by Energy Secretary Rick Perry was only an intellectual exercise? It didn't take long for the Department of Energy to put it into action -- in exactly the way that critics feared when the report was first announced. Last week, Perry asked federal energy regulators to consider new rules that would value coal and nuclear plants with 90 days of fuel on hand. In other words: find a way to help keep struggling baseload plants open by offering them a new financial incentive. Or, as a supposed free-market proponent like Perry might put it for any other technology, "pick winners and losers." After months of prebuttals from renewable-energy interest groups, the final DOE study was widely considered a straightforward account of power plant retirements on the U.S. grid. Travis Fisher, the project coordinator at the DOE, joined us on the podcast to talk through the process and his team's findings. While many cleantech enthusiasts disagreed with the lack of attention on distributed resources in the report, there was wide agreement that it was not a political document. That is, until Perry issued his letter to FERC last week. Now the politics are center stage. And it's going to get messy. In this week's Interchange podcast, Shayle Kann interviews Ari Peskoe, a senior fellow in electricity law at Harvard Law School. They'll talk about the specifics of Perry's "flimsy" request, and, more importantly, what it could mean for regulatory priorities under FERC. Has the government found a new way to keep coal alive? Or is this a half-baked attempt to prop up struggling plants? "This seems to be a total retreat from market-based principles," explains Peskoe in the podcast.

Today’s episode features Ari Peskoe, Senior Fellow in Electricity at Harvard Law School’s Environmental Policy Initiative and Miles Farmer, Clean Energy Attorney at Natural Resources Defense Council. They explain the intricate details of the interactions between wholesale energy markets and state energy policies like renewable portfolio standards and zero carbon credits for nuclear power plants. The audio production is still a bit scrappy, but if you make it through this one you can wear your energy nerd badge proudly!